Windows XP SP2 Has a Dangerous Hole

By Jay Munro  |  Posted 2004-08-25 Email Print this article Print
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

UPDATED: For home users, Windows Security Center in SP2 could actually leave the door open for a damaging system spoof, says PCMag.com.

Windows XP Service Pack 2 promises to raise the security bar for the sometimes beleaguered operating system. Unfortunately, one of the new features could be spoofed so that it reports misleading information about system security, or worse, lets a malicious program watch for an opportunity to do damage without being detected.

The feature is the Windows Security Center (Figure 1), which displays the status of the key elements of your defenses: firewall, updates and anti-virus. If your firewall has been disabled, or your anti-virus is out of date, that news will display here. The information is stored in an internal database managed by the Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) subsystem built into Windows.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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